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H  ow  a  Thousand  Missionaries 
Are  Supported 


The  Support  of  Specific  Missionaries  by  Specific  Churches 
Advocated  at  the  Ecumenical  Missionary 
Conference,  by 


JOHN  H.  CONVERSE,  Esq. 
SAMUEL  B.  CAPEN,  Esq. 
LUCIEN  C.  WARNER,  Esq. 
WILTON  MERLE  SMITH,  D.  D. 
J.  Y.  DOBBINS,  D  D. 

W.  C.  KING,  Esq. 

JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN,  D.  D. 


Introduction  by 
LUTHER  D.  IV I SHARD 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

NKW  YORK  :  :  CHICAGO  :  :  TORONTO 

...  1 90 1  .  .  . 


The  tendency  will  be  more  and  more  for  churches 
to  turn  over  their  missionary  obligation  to  societies,  for 
societies  to  turn  it  over  to  boards,  for  boards  to  turn  it 
over  to  executive  committees,  and  executive  committees 
to  secretaries,  so  that  in  the  last  result  the  chief  respon¬ 
sibility  for  the  great  work  will  rest  on  the  shoulders  of  a 
dozen  men. — President  Wayland. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


The  greatest  problem  which  confro7its  us  jor  the 
ope?iing  century  is  that  of  distributing  the  missionary 
responsibility  which  has  become  congested  in  official 
centers. — Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.  D. 

The  Ecumenical  Missionary  Conference 
addresses  here  reproduced  in  full  outline  are 
deserving  of  the  thoughtful  reading  which  they 
will  doubtless  receive.  They  embody  in  every 
case  the  opinions  of  eminent  men  who  have  for 
years  given  the  closest  attention  to  questions 
of  missionary  finance.  The  methods  here 
advocated  have  been  thoroughly  tested  by  the 
churches  with  which  these  gentlemen  are 
actively  associated.  No  other  solution  of  “the 
greatest  problem”  suggested  by  Dr.  Gordon 
has  been  as  thoroughly  tested  by  experience. 
This  method  had  no  stronger  advocate  than 
Dr.  Gordon,  who  was  without  doubt  one  of  the 
greatest  missionary  pastors  of  his  generation. 

This  method  does  what  no  other  method 
has  been  shown  to  do  in  equal  measure.  It 
immediately  increases  a  church’s  missionary 
contributions  by  large  percentages,  and  main- 


4  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

tains  the  increase  throughout  a  period  of  years. 
This  is  illustrated  by  comparing  the  contribu¬ 
tions  of  ten  churches  for  ten  years  to  the 
general  missionary  cause,  with  those  of  ten 
other  churches  for  the  same  time  which  during 
the  last  half  of  the  period  supported  their  own 
foreign  missionaries. 

I.  Receipts  for  ten  years  from  ten  churches 
for  the  general  missionary  cause: 

First  five  years.  Second  five  years.  Increase. 
$12,3  77  $12,480  $103 

II.  Receipts  for  ten  years  from  ten  churches 
which  during  the  first  five  years  contributed  to 
the  general  cause  and  during  the  following  five 
years  supported  their  own  missionaries: 

First  five  years.  Second  five  years.  Increase. 

$30,397  $65,495  $35>°98 

In  the  first  case  there  is  practically  no 
increase;  in  the  second  over  one  hundred  per 
cent,  increase.  In  the  first  case  the  ten 
churches  contributed  what  happened  to  be 
given  in  answer  to  a  general  appeal;  in  the 
second  the  people  were  moved  by  the  pressure 
of  a  specific  appeal.  In  the  first  case  the 
churches  neither  assumed  nor  felt  any  special 
responsibility;  in  the  second,  they  shared  with 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  5 

their  missionary  Board  the  responsibility  for 
the  support  of  ten  missionaries. 

This  method  has  actually  enlisted  the  sala¬ 
ries  of  more  than  one  thousand  missionaries  of 
the  American  Presbyterian,  Congregational, 
Baptist,  Methodist,  Christian  and  United 
Brethren  Churches,  of  the  Canadian  Methodist 
Church,  and  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  method  has  so  commended  itself 
to  the  pastors  and  members  of  every  one  of 
the  ninety-nine  churches  visited  by  the  writer 
since  the  Forward  Movement  was  inaugurated 
in  America  that  every  one,  without  a  single 
exception,  has  pledged  the  salary  of  one  or 
more  missionaries.  The  amounts  pledged 
represent  an  increase  of  more  than  two  hun¬ 
dred  per  cent,  over  previous  annual  con¬ 
tributions.  The  entire  number  of  salaries  pro¬ 
vided  by  these  churches  is  one  hundred  and 
fourteen.  In  addition  to  these,  twelve  salaries 
were  pledged  by  individuals. 

The  American  churches  struggled  with  the 
problem  of  missionary  finance  all  through  last 
century  and  succeeded  in  enlisting  only  one- 
tenth  of  a  cent  a  day,  or  about  thirty-five  cents 
a  year,  from  the  average  church  member.  Is  it 


6  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

not  worth  while  hearkening  to  the  counsel  of 
the  business  men  and  pastors  who  speak 
through  the  following  pages,  and  try  for  at 
least  the  first  year  of  the  century  a  method 
which  has  increased  the  per  capita  missionary 
contributions  of  the  members  of  ninety-nine 
churches  to  over  three  dollars  a  year  ? 

An  interesting  question  is  suggested  by  the 
facts  embodied  in  the  title  and  discussion. 
May  not  the  method  which  has  secured  the 
support  of  one  thousand  missionaries  provide 
for  twenty-five  thousand?  If  so,  the  financial 
problem  of  the  world’s  evangelization  is  solved; 
for  in  the  judgment  of  conservative  and  reli¬ 
able  authorities  twenty-five  thousand  mission¬ 
aries  properly  distributed  can  present  and  fully 
explain  the  message  of  Christianity  to  every 
creature  during  this  generation. 

Luther  D.  Wishard. 
287  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


March  18,  igoi. 


THE  METHOD  ENDORSED  BY  CHURCH 
COUNCILS  AND  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETIES 

Baptist. — Churches  and  individuals  shall 
be  encouraged  to  contribute  such  sums  as  shall 
meet  definite  needs  of  the  work  of  the  Union, 
as  for  example,  the  work  of  a  missionary. — 
Action  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary 
Union,  1899. 

Congregational. — Resolved,  that  the  For¬ 
ward  Movement  be  inaugurated  to  develop 
interest  in  foreign  missions  among  the 
churches,  and  especially  to  secure  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  missionaries  by  churches,  individuals 
and  families. — Action  of  the  American  Board, 
1898. 

Canadian  Methodist.  —  The  Movement 
wisely  guided  will  result  in  stimulating  and 
developing  widespread  interest  in  missionary 
work  among  young  people,  and  in  securing 
substantial  additions  to  the  income  of  the 
Board. — Action  of  the  Missionary  Society  of 

the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada. 

7 


8  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

Presbyterian. — It  is  hoped  that  not  a  few 
men  and  women  of  wealth  may  see  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  have  their  representatives  on  the 
foreign  field,  and  that  congregations  may  also 
see  their  way  clear  to  support  a  missionary. 
More  than  five  hundred  of  the  seven  hundred 
missionaries  were  so  supported  before  this 
special  effort  (the  Forward  Movement)  was 
inaugurated. — Reports  of  the  Foreign  Board 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  1898  and 
1899. 

Church  of  England.  —  During  the  last 
three  years  of  its  first  century,  which  closed 
April,  1899,  the  Church  Missionary  Society  con¬ 
ducted  a  three  years  enterprise  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  promoting  a  definite  and  substantial 
advance  in  foreign  missions.  Individuals,  fami¬ 
lies  and  congregations  were  asked  to  adopt 
one  or  more  missionaries  of  their  own.  At  the 
last  report  three  hundred  and  seventy-one 
missionaries  were  thus  supported. 


Address  by 

JOHN  H.  CONVERSE,  Esq. 

Member  of  the  Advisory  Committee  of  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Forward  Movement  in 
Foreign  Missions. 

Systematic  beneficence  can  best  be  pro¬ 
moted  and  the  interest  of  the  people  can  best 
be  aroused  and  maintained  if  they  have  a 
definite  object  in  which  their  interest  is  cen¬ 
tered.  The  interest  of  the  pastor  also  can  be 
largely  increased  if  he  knows  that  he  has  a 
fellow  worker  on  the  foreign  field. 

Let  us  carefully  define  what  we  mean  by 
the  support  of  missionaries  by  churches.  It  is 
not  that  a  church  shall  undertake  this  work 
without  any  relation  to  its  missionary  board; 
it  simply  means  that  a  church  shall  pledge 
itself  to  contribute  annually  a  sum  equal  to  the 
support  of  a  foreign  missionary,  or  a  dozen  if 
it  pleases.  It  means  that  the  supervision  of 
the  work  of  the  missionary  shall  be  centered 
in  the  board. 

In  order  to  carry  this  out,  the  church  must 

9 


io  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

be  organized  into  a  missionary  society. 
Pledges  should  be  asked  for  each  year.  The 
people  should  be  invited  to  make  their  pay¬ 
ments  annually,  monthly,  weekly,  or  as  their 
convenience  may  dictate.  Permit  me  to  men¬ 
tion  a  concrete  example  of  this  method.  I 
refer  to  a  church  in  the  suburbs  of  Philadel¬ 
phia.  Its  annual  contributions  to  foreign 
missions  were  about  one  hundred  and  forty 
dollars  a  year  up  to  twelve  years  ago.  The 
pastor  persuaded  the  people  to  consider  the 
question  of  supporting  a  foreign  missionary. 
Pledges  were  asked,  with  the  result  that 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars  were  subscribed 
the  first  year.  Instead  of  sending  one  mis¬ 
sionary,  two  were  sent.  The  work  has  been 
steadily  maintained  for  twelve  years,  and  the 
increase  in  the  contributions  of  the  church  to 
the  mission  cause  has  been  thirty-fold. 

In  the  Presbyterian  Church,  with  over  seven 
hundred  missionaries,  nearly  six  hundred  are 
specifically  supported.  In  the  Congregational 
body  the  proportion  is  similar.  It  would  seem 
as  though  the  problem  had  already  been 
solved,  and  if  there  is  any  significance  in  the 
leadings  of  divine  providence,  this  is  the 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  n 

method  to  awaken  in  our  people  an  interest  in 
foreign  missions,  to  draw  out  systematic 
benevolence,  and  to  engage  the  prayers  of  all 
of  Christ’s  followers  in  this  most  important 
work. 


Address  by 

SAMUEL  B.  CAPEN,  Esq. 

President  of  the  A?nerican  Board  of  Commissio?iers 
for  Foreign  Missions 

After  weighing  all  objections  at  their  full 
value,  I  think  it  still  remains  true  that  there  is 
a  work  to  be  done  by  individual  churches  in 
assuming  the  support  of  individual  missiona¬ 
ries.  One  of  the  greatest  needs  of  the  hour  is 
to  enlarge  the  gifts  of  our  churches.  How 
shall  we  enlarge  the  gifts?  I  reply,  by  increas¬ 
ing  the  number  of  the  givers.  One  of  the  best 
ways  to  do  this  is  to  make  this  work  more 
interesting  by  giving  the  individual  churches 
their  own  specific  and  definite  work.  I 
believe  this  plan  has  the  following  strong 
advantages: 

First. — It  makes  the  missionary  problem 

seem  more  capable  of  solution.  To  many 

minds  this  problem  seems  now  so  vast,  the 

numbers  to  be  reached  so  immense,  that  they 

are  paralyzed  and  can  do  nothing.  When  you 

suggest,  however,  That  if  thousands  of  the 

12 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  13 

churches  at  home  will  each  take  a  field  of  its 
own  and  cultivate  it,  the  whole  heathen  world 
will  soon  be  covered  and  cared  for,  there  is  a 
definiteness  about  the  suggestion  which  seems 
practical. 

Second. — It  will  reduce  the  waste  of  money. 
The  pastor  of  one  of  our  strongest  churches 
whose  gifts  to  foreign  missions  have  been  very 
small,  told  me  recently  that  the  men  in  his 
church  gave  away  a  great  deal  of  money,  but 
they  liked  to  give  it  to  things  they  could  see. 
The  things  that  were  out  of  sight  were  unreal 
to  them.  As  a  result  their  gifts  often  go  to 
support  enterprises  of  doubtful  value  and  are 
practically  wasted.  If  the  proverb,  that  “Not 
only  is  he  idle  who  is  doing  nothing,  but  he 
is  idle  who  might  be  better  employed,”  is 
true,  it  is  equally  true  that,  “Not  only  is  he 
wasting  who  throws  away  his  money,  but  he  is 
wasting  who  might  use  his  money  to  better 
advantage.” 

Third. — The  indifferent  are  reached  by  this 
individual  plan  of  work,  because  they  become 
interested  in  some  person  who  in  a  very  defi¬ 
nite  and  real  sense  is  their  representative  at  the 
front.  There  is  nothing  clearer  in  all  the  his- 


14  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

tory  of  the  past  and  present  than  that  men 
become  interested,  not  so  much  in  abstract 
ideas  as  in  individuals  who  represent  those 
ideas.  The  interest  centers  first  upon  the  man, 
then  upon  his  work.  It  is  the  Bible  story  over 
again:  great  events,  great  changes  revolving 
around  a  person.  Let  our  churches  have  some¬ 
one  at  the  post  of  danger  whose  suffering  and 
needs  they  will  make  theirs,  and  there  will  be 
no  lack  of  sympathy  and  practical  support. 

Fourth. — The  indifferent  are  to  be  reached 
by  this  new  plan  of  a  definite  responsibility 
because  they  will  become  more  intelligent. 
Ignorance  in  our  churches  is  the  mother  of 
much  of  the  present  indifference.  What  many 
in  our  churches  need  is  not  more  appeals,  but 
more  facts;  not  more  exhortation,  but  more 
education.  Suppose  now  a  church  at  home 
becomes  responsible  for  some  individual  mis¬ 
sionary,  what  is  the  result?  If  you  have  a 
boy  in  the  army  do  you  not  follow  every  day 
the  division  which  contains  his  regiment? 
Every  item  of  news  that  has  any  bearing  upon 
the  country,  the  people,  the  forces  opposed,  is 
of  supreme  interest  to  you.  In  a  similar  way 
when  our  churches  become  interested  in  some 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  15 

missionary  at  the  front,  they  are  going  to  study 
his  field,  the  conditions  of  the  people,  what 
they  believe,  how  they  live,  what  the  gains  and 
losses  are  from  time  to  time.  In  other  words, 
we  shall  have  an  increased  number  of  intelligent 
Christians,  and  they  will  become  interested, 
not  only  in  the  country,  but  in  the  field  which 
he  is  occupying  as  their  field.  It  will  become 
a  part  of  their  parish  for  which  they  will  be 
gladly  responsible.  The  missionary  may  die, 
but  the  field  will  remain  and  their  interest  will 
remain  also. 

May  I  give  you  an  illustration  which  seems 
to  me  to  prove  the  truth  of  that  for  which  I 
have'  been  arguing.  It  is  of  a  church  with 
which  I  am  very  familiar.  It  is  in  a  neighbor¬ 
hood  where  the  church-going  habit  is  greatly 
neglected.  The  church  itself  was  started  a  few 
years  ago  as  a  mission  enterprise,  and  almost 
all  of  its  members  are  poor.  Its  gifts  a  year 
ago  for  the  American  Board  were  but  seventy 
dollars,  but  last  autumn  a  young  lady  who  had 
grown  up  in  the  church  and  who  was  greatly 
beloved,  gave  herself  to  the  foreign  mission 
work.  It  was  out  of  love  to  her  that  these 
people  in  their  poverty  subscribed  the  whole 


16  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

five  hundred  dollars  needed  for  her  support. 
So  far  from  their  generous  gifts  reducing  the 
interest  in  other  directions,  it  has  increased  it. 
The  contributions  to  one  of  our  home  societies 
have  increased  thirty  per  cent,  over  last  year, 
and  to  another  over  sixty  per  cent. 

Yes!  In  developing  this  new  plan  of  indi¬ 
vidual  churches  supporting  individual  mission¬ 
aries,  I  believe  intelligence  will  take  the  place 
of  ignorance,  and  interest  will  conquer  indiffer¬ 
ence.  The  plan  ought  not  to  be  despised  even 
if  it  were  only  a  wise  method  of  providing 
more  money  for  saving  men  who  need  Christ, 
and  the  education  and  civilization  which  Christ 
always  brings.  But  it  is  far  more  than  this:  it 
is  a  plan  which  will  permanently  educate  the 
church  in  the  grandest  work  of  the  century. 


Address  by 

LUCIEN  C.  WARNER,  Esq. 

Chairman  of  the  Advisory  Committee  of  the  Con - 
gregatio?ial  Forward  Movement  in 
Foreign  Missions. 

We  have  in  our  denomination  over  five 
hundred  churches  which  spent  last  year  over 
six  thousand  dollars  on  an  average  in  support 
of  their  own  parish  work.  An  inquiry  concern¬ 
ing  the  foreign  mission  contributions  of  these 
churches  reveals  the  fact  that  one  which  spent 
over  five  thousand  upon  its  congregational 
work,  gave  only  fifty  to  foreign  missions, 
another  gave  twenty-five,  another  two  hundred 
and  fifty.  If  we  could  so  influence  our  churches 
that  the  average  would  be  brought  up  to  the 
record  made  by  one-tenth  of  the  five  hundred 
which  are  doing  their  best,  we  would  much 
more  than  double  the  receipts  for  missions. 
We  have  been  trying  to  increase  the  receipts 
from  some  of  these  churches  by  laying  upon 
them  a  definite  responsibility.  You  know  what 
results  from  solely  depending  upon  spontane- 

17 


18  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

ous  collections.  If  it  happens  to  be  a  fine 
Sunday  and  the  minister  is  in  fine  condition, 
he  may  get  a  collection  of  five  hundred  dollars. 
If  it  happens  to  rain,  or  the  minister,  from 
being  over-worked  the  preceding  week,  is  a 
little  dull,  we  get  a  collection  of  two  hundred. 
Now  the  needs  of  the  foreign  work  do  not 
change  from  year  to  year  in  this  way.  It  takes 
the  same  amount  of  money  to  carry  on  the 
same  work  this  year  that  it  did  last.  We  can  t 
support  the  foreign  work  with  five  hundred  one 
year  and  two  hundred  another.  The  church 
would  not  try  to  support  its  pastor  in  that  way. 
It  did  not  cut  down  his  salary  one-half  because 
it  happened  to  rain  on  two  or  three  Sundays 
during  the  year;  no  more  should  we  cut  down 
our  gifts  to  foreign  missions  or  any  other 
benevolent  work  because  of  rainy  Sundays. 

Note  the  effect  of  having  a  church  provide 
for  a  definite  missionary,  or  for  a  definite  work. 
It  may  be  the  support  of  a  college  such  as  the 
Broadway  Tabernacle  recently  took  for  its 
special  responsibility.  We  laid  this  responsi¬ 
bility  upon  that  church,  and  the  church  will 
not  be  any  more  likely  to  cut  down  its  contribu¬ 
tions  from  year  to  year  than  it  will  to  vary  the 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  19 

salary  of  its  own  pastor.  What  we  want  to 
promote  in  our  churches  is  such  a  feeling  of 
responsibility  that  each  individual  will  under¬ 
stand  that  it  is  not  a  matter  of  whether  or  not 
he  happens  to  go  to  church  the  day  the  collec¬ 
tion  is  taken;  it  is  not  a  matter  of  what  the 
sermon  is,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  duty,  of  system 
and  of  conscientious  communion  with  God. 
He  knows  each  year  just  what  he  has  to  do. 
If  we  can  build  up  this  custom  of  systematic 
benevolence,  this  feeling  of  responsibility 
among  our  churches  and  individual  members, 
we  shall  largely  increase  the  gifts  for  missions. 


Address  by 

WILTON  MERLE  SMITH,  D.  D. 

Pastor  Central  Presbyterian  Church ,  New 

York  City . 

Seven  years  ago  the  Young  People’s 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  of  our  church 
requested  the  Session  to  be  permitted  to  send 
a  missionary  into  the  home  or  foreign  field. 
The  Session  said  we  would  better  unite  with 
them  and  send  a  missionary  who  would  repre¬ 
sent  the  entire  church.  In  about  six  months 
we  had  a  missionary  in  the  Kentucky  moun¬ 
tains  in  the  village  of  Hyden,  sixty  miles  from 
the  railroad.  The  whole  county  is  among  the 
mountains.  There  is  not  a  single  church  in 
the  county  with  a  settled  pastor  and  a  regular 
service;  nor  was  there  a  Sunday  school, 
although  there  was  a  population  of  about  five 
thousand.  The  result  has  been  that  within  six 
years  we  have  absolutely  changed  the  face  of 
that  town.  We  have  built  a  beautiful  little 
church  costing  twenty-five  hundred  dollars; 
we  have  Christian  Endeavor  societies;  a  large 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  21 

Sunday  school  and  five  out-schools,  and  Hyden 
Academy.  Very  many  district  school  houses  in 
that  country  are  presided  over  by  those  who 
have  been  educated  at  our  academy.  The 
teachers  go  out  to  the  little  settlements  among 
the  mountains  and  establish  Sunday  schools. 
The  work  we  are  doing  there  is  evangelizing 
the  whole  county.  The  whole  town  is  changed; 
sidewalks  have  been  built  everywhere;  new 
houses  are  going  up.  At  times  the  principal 
business  in  Hyden  consists  in  boarding  stu¬ 
dents  who  come  from  far  and  wide  to  our 
academy. 

But  that  did  not  satisfy  our  church.  They 
said,  “We  must  have  a  missionary  on  the 
foreign  field.”  In  1895  we  sent  a  missionary 
to  Peking  under  our  Foreign  Board.  His  wife 
became  seriously  ill  and  they  had  to  return. 
We  had  spent  twenty-five  hundred  dollars 
in  that  venture,  and  it  all  seemed  fruitless. 
We  did  not  propose,  however,  to  be  deterred 
by  the  first  failure,  and  in  1898  we  sent 
out  two  young  men,  graduates  of  Yale  and 
Princeton.  They  have  been  studying  the 
language  ever  since.  They  are  now  pre¬ 
paring  to  go  farther  inland  to  found  a  station. 


22  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

Last  fall  they  wrote  home:  “Can’t  you  send  a 
medical  missionary?”  We  found  one  who 
was  one  of  the  brightest  young  men  in  the 
Presbyterian  hospital.  He  said,  “I  am  willing 
to  go,  but  my  brother  is  just  graduating  in 
theology  and  he  wants  to  go  to  China,”  and  so 
we  sent  them  both.  They  and  their  wives  left 
for  China  last  September,  and  are  now  with 
our  other  missionaries  in  Nanking.  A  sister  of 
one  of  the  young  men  whom  we  first  sent  out, 
having  joined  the  party  at  her  own  charges, 
desires  to  be  considered  one  of  the  mission¬ 
aries  of  our  church,  so  we  have  in  Nanking 
seven  foreign  missionaries  almost  ready  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  We  have 
already  selected  our  station,  about  two  hun¬ 
dred  miles  from  Nanking,  in  An  Hui  province. 

H  as  this  been  a  hard  thing  to  do?  Not  at 
all.  Eleven  years  ago  we  were  giving  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  to  foreign  mis¬ 
sions.  Our  annual  offering  for  the  general 
work  of  the  board  was  more  than  ten  times 
that  last  November.  Our  annual  offering  for 
the  general  fund  is  steadily  increasing,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  large  expense  which  we  have 


A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported  23 

incurred  in  the  support  of  our  special  mis¬ 
sionaries. 

The  interest  is  so  great  in  our  church  that 
when  special  demands  come  up  there  is  always 
someone  to  volunteer.  For  instance,  we 
wanted  a  church  at  Hyden.  A  man  said,  “I 
will  give  a  thousand  dollars;”  another  man 
said,  “I  would  like  to  buy  the  parsonage;”  and 
another  said,  “When  you  are  ready  for  a 
hospital  in  China,  I  want  to  build  the  hospital.” 
Anything  that  our  missionaries  want  they  can 
have,  and  have  it  gladly. 

I  have  been  asked  what  this  all  costs  us. 
We  took  our  offering  last  Sunday  for  our  own 
missionary  scheme,  amounting  to  between  five 
and  six  thousand  dollars,  for  our  special  work. 
I  felt  a  little  skeptical  about  our  getting  what 
we  needed.  It  was  the  largest  offering  we  had 
ever  asked  for,  but  we  had  every  bit  of  it  on 
the  plate;  and  one  man  came  to  me  afterward 
and  said,  “You  want  another  special  mission¬ 
ary  at  Hyden.  I  was  waiting,  thinking  I 
would  take  that  six  hundred.  I  find  you  have 
got  all  the  money  without  it.”  I  replied,  “We 
will  find  use  for  your  six  hundred  somewhere 
else.” 


24  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

One  of  the  most  important  things  about  it 
all  is  that  it  imparts  such  tremendous  interest 
to  the  home  church.  All  the  missionaries 
have  kodaks;  they  send  home  pictures  which 
are  thrown  on  the  screen  at  our  monthly  mis¬ 
sionary  meetings,  which  are  the  most  interest¬ 
ing  and  invariably  the  largest  attended  prayer 
meetings  of  the  entire  year.  The  result  has 
been  that  the  interest  has  reflected  upon  our 
own  spiritual  growth,  and  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  a  member  of  our  church  who  does  not 
rejoice  that  we  have  our  five  missionaries  in 
Hyden  and  seven  in  China.  These  mission¬ 
aries  have  been  with  us.  Two  of  them  worked 
with  us  six  months  before  they  went  away; 
the  other  two  worked  three  months.  We 
know  them.  Our  children  know  their  faces. 
We  have  their  pictures  on  the  screen,  and  their 
letters  are  read  at  every  monthly  missionary 
meeting.  The  whole  scheme  has  worked  so 
successfully  in  our  own  church  that  I  wish  it 
were  multiplied  a  thousand  times  in  other 
churches.  Of  course,  we  do  it  through  our 
home  and  foreign  boards;  that  is  the  only  way 
to  do  it. 


Address  by 
W.  C.  KING,  Esq. 

Chairman  Forward  Movement  Committee)  High¬ 
land  Baptist  Church ,  Springfield ,  Mass. 

The  average  individual  is  too  busy  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  whole  missionary 
field.  He  can,  however,  become  acquainted 
with  a  single  station  or  a  single  missionary. 
From  this  point  his  interest  grows  until  it 
reaches  other  stations,  other  lands  and  other 
people.  I  believe  in  special  churches  support¬ 
ing  special  missionaries  for  this  very  reason. 

A  word  with  reference  to  the  effect  of  the 
support  of  an  individual  upon  the  home 
church:  Last  year  in  connection  with  the 
visits  of  some  of  the  members  of  our  board  to 
our  church,  it  was  suggested  that  we  support  a 
foreign  missionary.  We  were  twenty-seven 
thousand  dollars  in  debt,  and  our  people  at 
first  said,  “We  can’t  do  it.”  The  amount  that 
we  raised  the  year  before  was  only  ninety-six 
dollars,  and  to  raise  eight  hundred  dollars  for 

25 


26  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

a  foreign  missionary  seemed  impossible. 
Everyone  of  our  standing  committee  said, 
“No,”  excepting  one.  It  was  decided,  how¬ 
ever,  to  recommend  it  to  the  church.  The 
church  agreed  to  undertake  it,  and  a  com¬ 
mittee  was  appointed  to  raise  the  money.  We 
got  up  a  little  circular  with  a  picture  of  the 
proposed  missionary,  and  a  few  words  about 
him  and  his  work.  We  sent  this  in  a  letter 
with  a  subscription  card  and  a  stamped 
envelope.  The  result  was  that  nearly  nine 
hundred  dollars  were  subscribed,  and  today  we 
have  our  missionary  on  the  foreign  field. 

Immediately  following  that,  seven  thous¬ 
and  dollars  were  subscribed  toward  clearing 
the  debt  of  twenty-seven  thousand.  A  year 
ago  we  came  to  the  annual  meeting  eleven 
hundred  dollars  behind  on  current  expenses. 
Last  year  we  were  only  one  hundred  dollars 
behind,  and  that  was  subscribed  in  less  than 
five  minutes. 


Address  by 

J.  Y.  DOBBINS,  D.  D. 

Pastor  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Montclair,  N.J- 

The  people  of  the  church  in  which  I  minis¬ 
ter  are  brought  into  immediate  relation  to  a 
particular  person  and  to  a  certain  portion  of 
the  missionary  field.  Our  interest  is  not  now 
as  it  used  to  be,  mediate,  but  immediate;  and 
instead  of  having  our  interest  fostered  only 
by  printed  statements  of  missionary  work, 
we  read  the  letters  which  are  written  us  by  our 
own  missionary  representatives,  one  of  them  in 
Burmah,  and  the  other  representing  us  in 
Montana,  where  our  church  has  erected  several 
buildings.  These  letters  are  brimming  with 
the  missionary  spirit,  and  the  reading  of  them 
makes  an  impression  which  long  remains  in 
the  hearts  of  our  people. 

I  wish  to  emphasize  the  point  already  made 
by  other  speakers,  that  this  direct  relation  to 
an  individual  and  a  certain  portion  of  the 
missionary  field,  does  not  narrow,  but  rather 
broadens  our  church  life.  It  is  because  we 

27 


28  A  Thousand  Missionaries  Supported 

have  become  related  to  individuals  who  are  in 
the  mission  fields  at  home  and  abroad  that  we 
are  interested  everywhere.  The  church  which 
has  no  interest  in  some  particular  place  is  in 
great  danger  of  not  having  interest  in  the  world 
at  large. 

Further,  it  has  been  a  delight  to  us  to  find 
that  individual  members  of  the  church  have 
entered  into  definite  relations  with  a  mission¬ 
ary.  A  member  of  our  church  who  makes  her 
living  by  her  needle,  supports  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  evangelists  in  Northern  China. 


Address  by 

JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN,  D.  D, 

Missionary  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 

India. 

We  missionaries  believe  that  the  time  has 
come  for  many  churches  to  support  two  pas¬ 
tors,  one  for  the  home  field  and  another  for 
the  foreign.  I  have  tried  this  upon  the  foreign 
field  when  the  little  church  which  I  gathered 
in  India  was  about  to  call  its  first  pastor. 
I  laid  before  them  the  fact,  “Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself,”  and  that  church 
instead  of  calling  one  pastor  called  two; 
one  for  themselves,  the  other  for  the  regions 
beyond,  and  those  two  pastors  were  ordained 
at  the  same  time.  The  same  hands  were  placed 
on  their  heads  as  co-pastors  of  that  church. 
What  can  be  done  at  the  forefront  by  the  feeble 
churches,  can  certainly  be  done  by  the  churches 
at  home. 


29 


LIST  OF  BOOKS  RECOMMENDED 


The  Forward  Movement 

Missionary  Library 

COMPILED  BY 

The  Advisory  Committee  of  the  Forward  Movement. 


Social  Evils  of  the  Non-Christian  World 

. James  S.  Dennis,  D.  D. 

My  Life  and  Times  -  -  Cyrus  Hamlin,  D.  D. 

Transformation  of  Hawaii  -  Belle  M.  Brain 
Chinese  Characteristics  -  Arthur  H.  Smith,  D.  D. 
In  Lands  Afar  -  Edited  by  E.  E.  Strong,  D.  D. 
The  Gist  of  Japan  -  -  -  Rev.  R.  B.  Peery 

The  Healing  of  the  Nations,  J.  R.Williamson,  M.D. 
The  Bishop’s  Conversion,  Ellen  Blackmar  Maxwell 
In  the  Tiger  Jungle,  Jacob  Chamberlain,  D.D.,  M.D. 
The  Chinese  Slave  Girl  -  Rev.  A.  T.  Davis 
The  Ecumenical  Conference  Report;  2  Vols. 

The  Cross  in  the  Land  of  the  Trident 

. Harlan  P.  Beach 

Famous  Missionaries  of  the  Church 

C.  C.  Creegan,  D.  D. 

Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone 

. William  G.  Blaikie,  D.  D. 

The  Evangelization  of  the  World  in  this  Gen¬ 
eration  . John  R.  Mott 


Orders  for  the  Library  should  be  sent  to  Luther  D. 
Wishard,  287  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York;  or  to  Charles 
E.  Sweet,  14  Beacon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Please  accompany  all  orders  with  check  or  Money 
Order  for  ten  dollars,  the  price  of  the  Library. 


BOOKS  BY 

LUTHER  D.  WISHARD 


A  NEW  PROGRAM  OF  MISSIONS 

A  Movement  to  make  the  Colleges  in  all 
Lands  Centers  of  Evangelization. 

Introduction  by  Richard  S.  Storrs. 

Seventh  Thousand ....  Post  free  on  receipt  of 
price.  Cloth ,  50  cents. 

THE  STUDENTS’  CHALLENGE  TO  THE 
CHURCHES 

Introduction  by  Bishop  Thoburn,  of  India. 

Sixty -first  Thousand.. .  .Post  free  on  receipt  of 
price.  Cloth ,  35  cents. 


Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  Publishers 

CHICAGO  ::  NEW  YORK  ::  TORONTO 


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